Medicine
Topics[edit]
General reference[edit]
"The Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh are many. The precepts and teachings they contain are universal, covering every subject. He has revealed scientific explanations ranging throughout all the realms of human inquiry and investigation--astronomy, biology, medical science, etc....He wrote lengthy Tablets upon civilization, sociology and government. Every subject is considered."
Writings on[edit]
Importance and significance of Bahá'ís studying[edit]
The Science of Medicine is Extremely Useful[edit]
"Thou shouldst endeavour to study the science of medicine. It is extremely useful and serveth as the greatest instrument for the dissemination of the Cause. It is absolutely imperative that thou acquire this bounty. Strive day and night that thou mayest become highly qualified in this science. And when thou wishest to dispense treatment, set thy heart toward the Abha Kingdom, entreating divine confirmations."
- (From a Tablet of Abdu'l-Bahá to an individual believer: Ibid., in Lights of Guidance, no. 961)
Powers Released by Bahá'u'lláh Destined to Reveal Themselves Through Instrumentality of His Followers[edit]
"These investigations you have so painstakingly pursued in the field of medical science, and on a subject which is still puzzling the minds of all the leading scientists in the world, cannot but be of a captivating interest and of a great value to all medical research workers.
"It is significant that you as a believer should have undertaken a work of this nature, as we all know that the powers released by the Manifestation of Bahá'u'lláh in this day are destined, in the course of time, to reveal themselves through the instrumentality of His followers, and in every conceivable field of human endeavour.
"That you should increasingly prove, through your confirmed researches in the domain of medicine, to be one of those instruments, is the fervent hope of our beloved Guardian."
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 29, 1938, in Lights of Guidance, no. 969)
Service is Prayer[edit]
"This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, he is giving praise."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, 1972 ed., p. 177, in Lights of Guidance, no. 967)
(See also nutrition for the need to study)
Faith not to be associated with one field of medicine[edit]
(See Health, Healing, and Nutrition, no. 84, 85, 87)
Need to have deep knowledge of old school of medicine to understand instructions in a Tablet to a Physician[edit]
"The Tablet to a Physician was addressed to a man who was a student of the old type of healing prevalent in the East and familiar with the terminology used in those days, and He addresses him in terms used by the medical men of those days. These terms are quite different from those used by modern medicine, and one would have to have a deep knowledge of this former school of medicine to understand the questions Bahá'u'lláh was elucidating."
- (In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 18 December 1945 to an individual believer; quoted in Health, Healing, and Nutrition, no. 61)
"The human being cannot remain in one condition: different maladies occur which have each a special remedy. The skillful physician does not give the same medicine to cure each disease and each malady, but he changes remedies and medicines according to the different necessities of the diseases and constitutions. One person may have a severe illness caused by fever, and the skilled doctor will give him cooling remedies; and when at some other time the condition of this person has changed, and fever is replaced by chills, without doubt the skilled doctor will discard cooling medicine and permit the use of heating drugs. This change and alteration is required by the condition of the patient and is an evident proof of the skill of the physician."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, Chapter 20)
Correlation of medical science's development and spiritual awakening[edit]
Medical Science Will Greatly Improve with the Spiritual Awakening of Man[edit]
"Abdu'l-Bahá does often state that the medical science will much improve. With the appearance of every Revelation a new insight is created in man and this in turn expresses itself in the growth of science. This has happened in past dispensations and we find its earliest fruits in our present day. What we see however is only the beginning. With the spiritual awakening of man this force will develop and marvelous results will become manifest."
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, January 14, 1932: Selections from Bahá'í Writings on Some Aspects of Health, Healing, Nutrition and Related Matters, April 1984, p. 10, in Lights of Guidance, no. 972)
Responsibility of individual toward utilizing[edit]
God gives healing, but through doctors[edit]
God Alone Has the Power to Give True Healing--Many Men Have Died of the Very Disease of Their Specialty[edit]
"All true healing comes from God! There are two causes for sickness, one is material, the other spiritual. If the sickness is of the body, a material remedy is needed, if of the soul, a spiritual remedy.
"If the heavenly benediction be upon us while we are being healed then only can we be made whole, for medicine is but the outward and visible means through which we obtain the heavenly healing. Unless the spirit be healed, the cure of the body is worth nothing. All is in the hands of God, and without Him there can be no health in us!
"There have been many men who have died at last of the very disease of which they have made a special study. Aristotle, for instance, who made a special study of the digestion, died of a gastronomic malady. Avicenna was a specialist of the heart, but he died of heart disease. God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá: Paris Talks, 1972 ed., p. 19, in Lights of Guidance, no. 966)
God has confirmed healing through material means[edit]
"Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians; We have not set aside the use of material means, rather have We confirmed it through this Pen, which God hath made to be the Dawning-place of His shining and glorious Cause."
- (Bahá'u'lláh: Kitáb-i-Aqdas, K. 113, in Lights of Guidance, no. 923)
He Who gives healing is God[edit]
"It is incumbent upon everyone to seek medical treatment and to follow the doctor's instructions, for this is in compliance with the divine ordinance, but, in reality, He Who giveth healing is God."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 156, in Lights of Guidance, no. 959)
Healing is in the hand of God, not in the hand of doctors[edit]
"One must obey the command of God and submit to medical opinion. Thou hast undertaken this journey to comply with His command and not for the sake of healing, since healing is in the hand of God, not in the hand of doctors."
- (From a Tablet of Abdu'l-Bahá to an individual believer: Selections from Bahá'í Writings on Some Aspects of Health, Healing, Nutrition and Related Subjects, op. cit., in Lights of Guidance, no. 960)
Spiritual and material healing[edit]
Methods of medical study[edit]
Specific fields[edit]
- Biochemical homeopathy
- Chiropractic
- Hypnotism (or auto-suggestion)
- Nutrition
- Psychiatry
Medical procedures[edit]
Possible treatments[edit]
- Alcohol (regarding normal prohibition but permitted under a "competent and conscientious physician")
- Diet
Supposed treatments[edit]
Supposed tonic[edit]
"In regard to the “brain tonic” supposedly recommended by the beloved Master: As this is not in His writing nor signed or sealed, and cannot, from what you have at hand, be authenticated, he feels the friends should not risk using it unless some qualified medical man should consider it sound and in no way injurious to the health."
